We are going to my sister’s house in New Hampshire this weekend.  It should be interesting because she has three dogs of her own, plus she has her 2-year old grandson until Sunday morning.  We should have some interesting stories to report. 🙂

When we travel with the dogs, they have their own suitcase/bag.  I choose this bag because 1) it holds a LOT.  2) The bright colors makes it very easy to find. 3)  The bag has “safari club” on it and it seemed fitting.

I like having all of their things in one place where they are easy to find.   This ensures that feeding time and any other situation that might arise has limited stress on my part.  So just what exactly goes into their bag?

1)  Their medical records (each dog has a three-ring binder that has their complete medical history in it.)

2)  Any medications they might be taking at this time (Delilah takes antioxidants and thyroid daily and since Sampson had his allergic reaction he is taking Benadryl.  I also threw some Benadryl spray in there just in case.)

3)  Their food bowls.

4)  A travel water bottle (with attached drinking bowl) filled with fresh water.

5)  My tick kit.

6)  My homemade flea spray.

7)  Their garlic tablets (which I use instead of topical flea/tick prevention.)

8)  Some toys (more than likely they will both lie down most of the trip, but just in case someone wants to chew something.)

9)  Their night-time snack.

If they were still on dry Kibble I would have packaged that up and carried that as well.  Since they are on raw now, that will go in the cooler.

I will also bring a bed for each of them, this doubles as a comfy place to relax in the car, and it also can be used in our bedroom.  I think it gives them a sense of security and peace to have some of their own things around them when we are away from home.

Notice Delilah checking it out.

Flea and tick treatments are very costly, and in my opinion they are not healthy for your dog.

The health factor is more important to me than the money factor, although I don’t mind saving when I can. 🙂

I use Bug Off Garlic for my dogs, but I also use a topical spray when we go outside of the yard.  I have tried a couple of natural sprays that we found at the pet store and online, they work pretty good but they are somewhat expensive and then if you ordered online you have the added cost of shipping.

There is a wonderful woman, Sandy who has guided me throughout the raw dog food program and she gave me this flea and tick recipe to make at home.  I’ve just made up my first batch and will be trying it out this weekend in New Hampshire, but in the meantime I thought I would share the recipe here.

You need two lemons sliced thin, one sprig of rosemary, one quart of boiling water and three drops of Tea Tree Oil, which I picked up at Wal-Mart.

Place the lemon slice and the sprig of rosemary in a two-quart glass container and cover with the boiling water.

Let the mixture sit overnight. I forgot last night so I mixed it up this morning and let it sit in the fridge all day.

Squeeze the juice from the lemons into the container, transfer the mixture into a spray bottle.  I put a couple of the thin slices of lemon and half the sprig of rosemary into the bottle as well.  Add your three drops of Tea Tree Oil and shake the mixture up.  Keep the bottle in the fridge.

This has to be applied daily, but it is inexpensive and has a light fragrant smell.  I will let you know in a future blog how this works!